Changed climate will cook elderly people

When the great heatwave of 2003 struck Paris, it left 14,802 people dead; 30,000 people died throughout the rest of Europe. It was, according to Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, the worst natural disaster on record.

Sixty per cent of those deaths occurred in nursing homes, retirement homes and hospitals.

In 2003, the French hospital authorities were caught out by climate change and their failure to plan, let alone adapt to the long predicted changed weather conditions. The majority of deaths in Europe in 2003 were of people over 65 – those who are most at risk of heat extremes.

But even if the French had planned for an increased level of air-conditioning in their aged care facilities – which they did not – would it have been enough? High demand for air-conditioning during extreme heat causes power outages. A frail, elderly person will die in about three days without air-conditioning. But it takes at least a week for them to adapt when the air-conditioning fails, according to the NSW Department of Health.

Online Opinion